Letter from Níjar: The Fall of Resurrection

Her uplifting Christian name aside, Resurreccion Galera would seem to have what it takes to teach Roman Catholicism to children, something she has been doing for seven years. Galera, 36, comes from a devout family in the southern Spanish city of Almería, studied theology, has a beatific smile, a gentle voice. Some of her students at the Ferrer Guardia primary school, 25 km from her home in Níjar, have mistakenly called her mamá, laughing and correcting themselves. "With small children you are not teaching the sacraments but the broad ideas of Jesus," she says. "Love for one another, sharing, ways for...